Tanner Gray Derek Kraus headline weekend winners at South Boston

Lou Modestino

Monday

May 6, 2019 at 9:57 AM

Pair of Winners For WhosYourDriver.org Twin 100s in NASCAR K&N Pro Series East Note: The K&N Series will be stopping at the Thompson Motorsports Park on Saturday, June 15 and NHMS on Saturday July 20 and again at NHMS on Saturday, Sept. 1 SOUTH BOSTON, Va. — Tanner Gray wasn't leaving South Boston without a trophy. […]

Pair of Winners For WhosYourDriver.org Twin 100s in NASCAR K&N Pro Series East

Note: The K&N Series will be stopping at the Thompson Motorsports Park on Saturday, June 15 and NHMS on Saturday July 20 and again at NHMS on Saturday, Sept. 1

SOUTH BOSTON, Va. — Tanner Gray wasn't leaving South Boston without a trophy. And Derek Kraus had to wait a day to get his.

Gray accomplished his goal in race No. 1 of the WhosYourDriver.org Twin 100s Saturday night, as he nudged Bristol winner Sam Mayer out of the way in overtime to win his first career NASCAR K&N Pro Series race.

After rain pushed the conclusion of the second 100-lap championship race to Sunday, Kraus scored his second NASCAR K&N Pro Series East win of the season in race No. 2.

For Gray, though, getting that initial checkered flag in NASCAR was the thing. The 2018 NHRA Pro Stock Champion has already shown to be a quick study to stock cars and oval tracks.

“It feels really good to get that first win,” Gray said, exhausted after the first twin 100. “I tried to screw it up throughout the race the whole time. I just kept getting loose, chasing it up the race track and made some adjustments there under caution before the green/white/checkered.”

The overtime finish didn't disappoint, as Gray and eventual second-place finisher Sam Mayer were beating and banging around the entire track.

“We took off and I was hoping I could get a little better jump, hold him tight down there to the bottom,” the DGR-Crosley driver said. “But I missed it a little bit. Tried to follow behind him and got into him, and in (Turn) 3 just moved him, got underneath him, side-by-side going on the frontstretch. After that I'm not too sure what happened to him.”

Gray had come up just .030 seconds short on March 30 at California's Irwindale Speedway, losing out on a drag race off Turn 4 to Trevor Huddleston. This time, it was Gray who was .32 seconds faster than the runner-up.

Following Gray and Mayer across the finish line was another rookie, Max McLaughlin, in third. Spencer Davis and Ruben Garcia Jr. where fourth and fifth, respectively.

The field for the second twin 100 was set by fastest lap time per driver in the first 100. That allowed Sanchez, who was 14th in his series' debut, to assume the point alongside — albeit temporarily — Gray.

The extra day was worth the wait for Kraus.

Kraus took the lead from McLaughlin at the halfway juncture and didn't look back, claiming his seventh overall K&N Pro Series checkered flag.

'It was a really good day overall,' he said. 'Today was. Yesterday we were pretty good, too, but we ran out of brakes early and kind of had to ride around and manage your day, which we did for those first 100 laps. But these second 100 laps, we got the first 20 laps in and I knew we were pretty good. Really happy with my Bill McAnally crew.'

The win was Kraus' second overall in the K&N Pro Series East this season. His first came in the season opener at Florida's New Smyrna Speedway, a race that was also postponed due to rain.

Chase Cabre came home in second-place for the second time in the last three races " sandwiching an eighth-place run in the first twin 100 Saturday night. The Rev Racing driver was catching Kraus' No. 16 in the closing stages Sunday, but wound up running out of time.

'Just came up a little bit short' he said. 'I think if we had a caution we might have had something. Really drove as hard as I could go there. It was a guessing game when it rains out like that and goes to the next day; not bad, but not what we wanted.'

Hattori Racing Enterprises' McLaughlin scored his second third-place finish in a row after battling flu-like symptoms the night prior and led a handful of laps. Gray and Davis rounded out the top five.

Drew Dollar was sixth, followed by Rev Racing teammates Garcia and Nick Sanchez. Garcia's car was piloted by Garrett Sunday after Garcia had to depart for a race commitment in the NASCAR PEAK Mexico Series. Garrett had wrecked out in the first 20 laps Saturday night, leaving him available to fill in for Garcia. Sanchez was on the pole for the second race by virtue of his fast lap Saturday, and was making his series' debut on the weekend. Travis Milburn and Justin Carroll rounded out the top 10.

With the win, Kraus assumes the points lead over Sam Mayer by four. Gray, Davis and Cabre round out the top five in the championship standings.

Twin No. 1 will be broadcast Wednesday, May 8 at 6 p.m. ET on NBCSN. Twin No. 2 will air on NBCSN on Thursday, May 9 at 6 p.m.

The next K&N Pro Series East events will take place on Saturday, June 1, at Memphis International Raceway.